One Shadow
by The lone cloud
Summary: In which Gokudera is a lovesick fool and Tsuna takes charge for once. 59fem!27. Don't like, don't read. Rated T for mentions of making love and language.


**Disclaimer: I no own**

**This one is a bit more serious than my other fics. I know it's bad, please don't kill me!**

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It had been six years since he realized that he loved her.

It had been when they had gone to the future. Before, he thought he was an amazing person, so kind, so gentle, so forgiving. She accepted people, people that didn't deserve it. Lancia, who tried to kill her. Mukuro, who still tries to possess her. Xanxus, who almost made her kill the ninth. Even him, the overly zealous bomber that almost blew her head off the first time they met.

She was too good to him, taking him in, giving him bentos when he doesn't bring lunch, trying to get him to stop smoking, tolerating him when he tries to attack that stupid cow, the baseball brain, and turf top. She was as sweet as her mother, and so endearingly clumsy, and she always knows the right thing to say. Probably with that amazing super intuition of hers.

And it doesn't help that she was good looking. He nearly got a nosebleed the first time that she was shot with a dying will bullet. Wow. And when she wears the skirt that comes with the school uniform. Even Hibari sees it. He sees the way that the skylark looks at her. That I want to bend you over my desk and fuck you senseless look.

He always got mad when the baseball brain threw his arm around her and laughed. The always wanted to trample turf top whenever he cornered her and demanded that she join the boxing club. He always blushed when Lambo said that he and Tsuna-nee were going to go take a bath. And he was always confused when Bianci sent him secretive glances whenever he announced his undying loyalty to her.

He hated letting her down. He hated it with every fiber of his being. Whenever she looked at him with disappointed eyes, he died a little inside. Whenever she said "Stop, Gokudera," he felt a dagger stabbing through his heart.

So maybe it was obvious to everyone that he liked her. It wasn't obvious to him. And it wasn't obvious to her.

So when he saw her there, sitting innocently in the coffin, surrounded by white flower petals, his heart shattered into a million pieces. No! She can't die! She's the Tenth! She can't die! I need her... And suddenly it hit him. I love her.

She didn't understand why she was in a coffin. He did. He didn't want to tell her. He was sure that she knew, deep inside, and he knew that it bothered her, judging by the look in her eyes. But he didn't want to talk about it. If he did, he'd cry. And he refuses to look weak in front of the Tenth.

He feels better anyways, when he punches the older baseball brain. He wishes that he could punch the older him.

He is so angry when Gamma says that she was shot. Just imagining her falling to the ground, blood leaking out of a hole in her chest, eyes open and unseeing was enough to make him want to kill the man. Very brutally. He hates that she doesn't even care, that she welcomes him after black spell was destroyed. But he doesn't question her. The tenth's word is law.

He is so relieved when she wins. Not because she is returning them to the past, not because she had just saved the world. But because she was safe. She was alive.

So he held in his feelings. They were safe. They were going home. He didn't need anything else.

Six years later, when he is playing the piano and crying, she walks in on him. She comforts him. She tells him that she knows, she has known for years. And she says that he plays so beautifully that it makes her sad. He says he'll stop playing if it makes her sad. But she says that it's a good kind of sad. Like remembering a sunset during a time of darkness. A sadness filled with hope.

Then she says his name. "Hayato..." But that's all she says, because after all of these years, saying his name like that is the breaking point, and he kisses her passionately, afraid to let her go, tasting something sweet, something like promise on her lips.

He pulls away quickly and apologizes, because he's not worthy of her. He's a bastard from a scandalous affair that chain smokes and cusses like a sailor and she deserves someone better than him. But she just smiles and pulls him into another kiss. She says she likes the way he tastes. Like smoke and something like honey.

They make love on top of the the piano that night.

And he isn't even sad when three years later, he catches his mother's sickness. Apparently it's genetic. Shamal can't heal it. She cries, and their son, who looks like her with green eyes, looks on, not understanding. But he says it's okay, he won't grow up like he did, they were married and she would always take care of him. He wouldn't end up like his dear old dad, smoking because he had to look tough to survive, cussing and fighting because that's what living on the streets and being in the Mafia would do to you. He would grow up pure and innocent, just like her.

But she just hits him over the head and says that she would miss him, and what would she do without him. He had never even entertained the thought that she would miss him, not even for a second, and the feeling overwhelms him, filling him with hope and he sits up to kiss her.

He holds on for a few more years, and he teaches his son the piano. He's a natural, just like his father when he was little, just like his grandmother. But it's different, because he knows that his teacher is his father, and he is happy. Soon, though, he's bedridden and weak, and she stays with him all of the time, doing her paperwork on the bedside table and holding his hand whenever he starts to cough and spasm. She is still too good for him.

His son visits him every day, and now, at five years old, he knows that his father is going to die. He tells him all about his childhood, and he says that he's sorry for being a terrible father, but his son just squeezes his hand tearfully and says that he's the best daddy ever.

Her guardians come to visit him twice a day. They comment on how weird it is to see him like this, and just to make them feel better, he yells at all of them, for old times sake. They all laugh and Lambo bursts out in tears every time just because that's the type of person he is. Lambo says "Don't die, Bakadera," and he says "Shut up, stupid cow."That cheers them up every time.

The day comes when he doesn't have enough strength to yell, and he slowly starts to drift off, starting to forget simple things, and he need his glasses more than ever. They all gather around his bed, his friends(?), his wife, his six year old son, even the old Kokuyo gang and the Varia are there for some reason. He supposes that he should be honored. She holds his hand, tears streaming down her face, and she says "Don't leave me, Hayato." He smiles at her, and he says "Don't worry, Tsuna. I'm going to see my mother again. I miss her so much. I'm probably going to go to hell, though."

She hits him over the head. "If you go to hell, then God is blind." He laughs and says that he'll just come back as a ghost. "Don't do that," she says. "I'll see you soon enough. Just wait for me."

He smiles and closes his eyes. The last thing he hears is soft music, his mother's favorite song, and he drifts off to sleep.

He never wakes up.

Forty-seven years pass, and he finally sees her again. He holds out his hand to her and they walk into the light, one shadow cast out behind them.


End file.
